By Matthew Parish
Konstantin (we did not discuss his last name) is the proprietor of a major volunteers’ kitchen supplying food to the military in a suburb of Kyiv that shall not be disclosed for obvious reasons. He is a jolly, friendly and decent man, and through an English-Ukrainian interpreter I had the pleasure of interviewing him one lunchtime in September and receiving a welcoming tour of his kitchen facilities and his hard working staff. Everywhere I looked, I saw neatly dressed ladies (for the staff were mostly female) wearing protective clothing and preparing a variety of food for the military in an effective, efficient and laborious fashion.
The kitchen is not large in physical terms, and there is barely a sign; it is tucked in a typical Soviet residential suburb amidst tower blocks, but the number of people who work there is significant and it is a constant hive of activity, preparing a variety of dried foods to assist the military. I was allowed to take a series of photos, which accompany this interview, and Konstantin held me for a substantial period of time telling me all the things he wanted to say about his voluntary operation. He was effusive and talkative, and one of the nicest people I have met in the NGO community so far.
Here is the transcript of the question and answer session, edited for style and clarity, together with some notes about how to volunteer and donate to the Kitchen, and some photographs, at the end.
Konstantin, you are the proprietor of the Ants Kitchen here in Kyiv. Tell us when you established the kitchen, and why.
At the very beginning of March 2022 there was an idea to prepare some hot dishes because it was a cold period, that’s why there was the idea to prepare some meals not for the military on the front but for cadets who were preparing to be soldiers. That’s how we felt the need to be helpful in this direction; but later we changed focus and we are now focused on the preparation of dried dishes and food with long expiry dates and packaged appropriately. However in every season the needs were changing and therefore we had to be more flexible, and we needed the ability to change some of our food preparations and the meals we served.
Why did you personally get involved in this? What were your personal motivations?
Very easy. The first invasion of Ukraine was in 2014 and that’s why we had to be ready for something this time. He and his wife are from Luhansk and during that period they lost their apartments in Luhansk. In 2022 they were looking for an area in which they could be helpful.
In that period he was in Berlin and on the date of the invasion he started his journey from Berlin to Kyiv in order to be useful to the war effort.
Why food? It was the first thing I saw that could be organised and that I can do it.
We also saw the needs of elderly people to help with medicines and some food and dishes to bring to the elderly as well.
Now we have curfews at night but also in Kyiv there have been some days when it has not been possible to go out.
Of course the first day we were ready to be helpful in many vectors of helpful activity; but later on we could be most helpful in the direction of preparing food.
How many volunteers do you have working here each day?
Right now more than 20. Maybe 25.
And how much food are you preparing each day?
It depends on the day because today is Tuesday and only a certain number of people may be available to help on Tuesdays; that’s why it depends on the. number of people who arrives each day because this is always changing. There can be people who help once a week and other people who arrive every day. But in general, it is 200 people [per week] who you can put to the exercise of making food.
Let’s take a period of like a month, from February this year, 2024, 30,000 portions of food per month, that is actually portions of dried cakes, it can also be dried meat or other dried dishes.
And how is the food distributed once it’s prepared?
Right now we are dealing with the Nova Poshta [national postal service] and we are part of a volunteer programme and that is why it is free to distribute the food with the help of Nova Poshta. When we are talking about Nova Poshta it is very quick and it distributed to the numerous places where the soldiers are based.
When for example we take 2022, it was distributed with the help of some volunteers rather than Nova Poshta and we had to think for ourselves how to distribute it; but now it is 90% with Nova Poshta.
And once the soldiers receive the food, what do they have to prepare it; to eat it? Do they add water?
They get dried food. When we are talking about 20 portions, things like dried cakes and jerky (dried meat) can be eaten without adding water. Two sorts of nuts and fruits - a dry mix - are also produced, and gingerbread.
There are porridges that hot water can be added to as well.
Can you tell me what hours a day you are open and how many days a week you are open?
From 9am to 6pm, preparing the kitchen and cleaning takes one or two hours. When there is no problem with electricity the process is faster. When there is no electricity there are some active periods of preparing dishes that cannot be undertaken when the electricity fails. Therefore sometimes we must start at 7am because by 11am the electricity is failing. It is like a lottery and every day is different.
So you have a lot of problems with the electricity?
Not so many processes can be done without electricity which is why it is a little bit difficult; because often you have seen that the machines are very powerful and they need a lot of electricity.
You must work very hard. Do you ever get tired?
[Laughs] Yes. I will tell you after the interview about being tired.
For how long do you imagine this kitchen will be running?
I am the organiser and the owner of the volunteer fund; I am looking for the most amount of resources and instruments to help our military. We need products, donations, packing materials …
How are you financed? Where do you get your money to run the kitchen?
Do you mean money for me personally, or money to run the kitchen?
No I mean money to run the kitchen: the food expenses; the electricity expenses, all these normal expenses of running anything.
There is a standard model; when we started it was very difficult to find liquid cash, that’s why we can address for example the producer of flour and talk about flour and they can give us without money.
You mean a donation?
Yes. Also we are addressing the distributors of big businesses, and small distributors, whether they can help somehow. For example we have a company that produces straightforward chicken meat and they are our strategic partners. Many distributors and companies are involved in that process and they can bring their products here and donate some.
With every distributor they have some different vector of activity and they can bring what they want, and each case is different, with some peanuts for example.
But actually the amount is not increasing; we are just trying to create a model that is not very difficult for the producer. Under such a model we are not asking for a huge amount. Of course we need some materials to undertake our procedures. For example the producer of flour has said that he does not have the ability to bring some flour.
That’s why, last week, we took part in a conference where we were presenting our activities and we we were talking about what our activities are and what we need, and there were producers of flour and wheat and they were able to establish our needs.
There is some money that is needed right now. In the middle of October they start the process of preparing the mixture of honey and nuts which is developed as an anti-illness mixture which is very important for our military. That’s why some months before we are trying to deal with honey producers and nuts over many months because the middle of October is already coming up very quickly.
Konstantin from Ants, I want to thank you for giving such a comprehensive overview of all the work you are doing here. Glory to Ukraine.
Glory to the Heroes but actually the interview is not finished because I want to talk about some other things.
What would you like to talk about?
I think you don’t know to who it goes, all this food preparation, and why it is so important.
Explain to us why it is so important.
There is actually already many people dealing with preparation of dishes going to the front. What we are different from the others is that our specific thing is one portion in one package for one person for one meal.
We are dealing with minimum portions with no possibility to prepare or even have some hot water; they just take the food out of the packaging and eat.
It is easier to take three or four portions in one package but technologically it is very difficult to prepare a single meal for a single person. That is why we are technologically more complicated than others.
Also I want to talk about money, whether we are getting some money. There are not much expenses of the financial kind, about 70,000 Hryvnias per month, 20,000 to hire the building, 45,000 for electricity and up to 5,000 for the repair of some things.
So you are looking for financial donations to support you?
Yes, we need money. When we don’t find some lemon for example or some other fruit or vegetable, then we need to go and buy it immediately.
So how can people donate to you?
There are some webpages, some social media, the internet, and already all the information is already on that website, what we are doing, and when we need money we just announce on the webpages that we need money.
So we’ll be sure to announce your website so that donors know where to go.
That’s why we need to have a website and we need money to make the website much better than it is. However nobody who can do this will help without being paid. We can’t pay for website design because we may have some greater and more serious problem.
For example we already know that we spend 70,000 Hryvnias per month; but if we work it out on a per portion basis that is 40-50 Hryvnias per portion. If you calculate this on a commercial basis that is one million to one and a half million Hryvnias per month. Of course this is volunteer work and nobody is being paid. People come when they have time for this. If we can pay some salary for some chief, head of production or some sanitary people, that would help the process. This is another level of organisation but these are plans for the future. We just realise that it must be done and we wait for money and instruments to realise.
For civilians there may be some international help but when we are talking about helping the military there is no international help. That’s why this is very difficult. We need to do it clearly, because the need is very high.
Konstantin, thank you very much once again for your really comprehensive description of your kitchen and its work. We wish you all the best in your fantastic endeavours. God bless, and let’s all keep fighting until the war is won.
Thank you.
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The website for Ants Kitchen, where it is possible to make financial donations and to offer to volunteer, is here: http://www.murashky.com/
